UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed on Thursday the need to make progress to end the occupation in Gaza and establish a two-state solution.

This came in a speech by Guterres during his participation in the "BRICS+ Expanded Session" held within the framework of the BRICS summit in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation.

Guterres said they need to strengthen and update the "peace mechanism."

"This includes reforms that will ensure that the UN Security Council reflects today's world," he added.

Guterres stressed the need to reach an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, release all prisoners, and deliver humanitarian aid effectively without facing any obstacles, and pointed out that peace is generally required in the world.

In this regard, he referred to the recent UN General Assembly resolution, saying, "We need to make irreversible progress to end the occupation and establish the two-state solution."

The draft resolution, which Palestine submitted to the UN General Assembly for the first time last September, calls on Israel to end its presence in the occupied territories within 12 months. It was voted on in a special session of the UN General Assembly and was accepted by a majority of 124 votes against 14.

With American support, the ongoing Israeli genocidal war in Gaza since October 7, 2023, has left more than 143,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that has killed dozens of children and elderly people.

Tel Aviv continues its massacres, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to end them immediately, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

For his part, the UN Secretary-General stressed the need to fully implement Security Council Resolution 1071 in Lebanon.

In August 2006, the Security Council issued Resolution 1701, which halted 33 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, known as the “July War,” and stipulated the deployment of 15,000 UNIFIL peacekeeping troops on the common border.

UNIFIL's area of operations is defined between the Litani River in the north inside Lebanon, and the "Blue Line" in the south separating the Arab country from Israel.

On another level, Guterres stressed that "peace is necessary in Ukraine and Sudan."